


Tomorrow Will Hold

by Djaeka



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Kiss therapy, Mild Angst, One-Shot, Post Hawkmoth, for now, ladrien, pre-reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 11:30:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18916081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Djaeka/pseuds/Djaeka
Summary: Ladybug and Chat Noir have finally succeeded in bringing Hawkmoth to justice. But with his defeat came guilt and all of its consequences for Adrien. Ladybug desperately wants to help Adrien cope with his father’s incarceration, but she’s not sure where the line is anymore. Ladybug keeps showing up though, determined to help Adrien through the pain somehow.





	Tomorrow Will Hold

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tempomental](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tempomental/gifts).



“Why are you here again?” Adrien hurled his bag toward the bed, not particularly caring if it reached its intended target. Eyes hard and glaring, he locked onto the intruder in his room. Long legs crossed at the ankles and arms folded sternly across her chest as she perched in his computer chair, Ladybug glared back with just as much intensity.

“I’m _here_ because you’re still not okay and I care about you.” Despite the sentiment, her words were flat and hesitant, the product of many attempts to “help” him. Adrien rolled his eyes.

“No one actually cares. See, I don’t actually matter now that Father’s secret is out. I’m just a story or a curiosity, or- I don’t even _know_ what I am to you, since I’m not an akumatization risk with Father out of the picture. So leave. I don’t need you here.” She flinched at the obvious rage in his tone, taking in his hunched shoulders and bowed neck.

Her own shoulders slumped and Ladybug curled into herself slightly before straightening back out. A glint in her eyes turned cloudless-sky blue into unyielding steel.

“You don’t actually have to believe me. I _do_ care about you, and I’m not leaving. Not until I know you’re okay. I don’t want anything from you and I’m not like the others!” Her voice rose with each word until she practically shouted the final words at him.

“Prove it. Prove you’re not just like all the others,” he spat, frustration and endless bitterness pushing him past normal limits. “Prove to me you’re not here just to pacify poor, stupid, _brainless_ Adrien who can’t even see the _obvious in front of his_ mmmph!” The rest of his tirade was lost the moment her lips sealed over his and his tense muscles melted under the onslaught of emotions crashing over him.

Jubilation was first, naturally. He’d waited so long and had never wanted anyone or anything more than he’d wanted her, so the idea that she was kissing him because she _wanted to_ was almost more than he could handle. Fear was next. Everyone he ever loved would eventually leave; the pain of abandonment was the only certainty in his life. But as Ladybug’s lips pressed more firmly against his own, his mind muddled and clouded over. The only thing he could still identify was a pleasant warm sensation in his face and stomach as he slipped into the moment.

His hands unclenched from the tight fists he’d made at his sides, and slowly rose toward her hips. Once they reached their destination, they had a mind of their own. Palms pressed against her hip bones, fingers dug into the softness just behind. He yanked her jerkily toward him and pressed forward. His mouth moulded to hers as if they belonged together. Her eyes were already closed and his followed suit as one hand glided over her hips to her waist, pulling her flush against him. Her body was warm, almost too warm in the early evening of late summer, but he ignored it and tried fruitlessly to bring her even closer. He knew it was impossible but it wouldn’t stop him from trying nonetheless. One of Ladybug’s hands wrapped itself into his shirt, crumpling it in her fist while the other buried itself in the hair at the back of his head.

 _Years_ of longing, of pent up desire and wasted efforts, and he finally gets a kiss from Ladybug. Out of sympathy. For his father being Hawkmoth. And she still wasn’t accepting his advances, she was _pitying him_. Mindlessly he shoved her back by her shoulders.

“I don’t know who you are. You can’t just…kiss me out of nowhere like that! You have no idea who I am; you don’t even know me!” A lump in his throat threatened to block the hurtful words that he continued to push out, knowing he had to hurt her if he was going to get her to leave. He almost took them all back when he saw the shine in her eyes, but as he opened his mouth to speak she cut him off.

“I know who you are.”

Panic. Sheer, cliff-diving, utter panic, because how in the _hell_ did she figure it out?

“I, uh. I know you. Outside of the mask.”

Disappointment and relief crashed like a tidal wave over him. She didn’t know. But that meant she didn’t love all of him. She was just trying to cheer him up by-

Wait. She said she knows him outside the mask.

Panic bubbled up rapidly as he stared wide-eyed at the woman he had probably never truly seen before.

He knows her.

He hadn’t seen her.

He should be ashamed of himself.

“You…” She snorted lightly, in a humorless laugh, “you don’t really see me. Not like this. But I think you like me enough to call me a friend.” She wove her hands together, fingers tightly intertwined. Adrien’s hand came up to cover his mouth since he couldn’t seem to close it anymore. His eyebrows pinched and eyes closed as he processed the words.

“So you do know me. And I _do_ know you. Maybe not quite enough for me to have kissed you just now and I’m really sorry if that made you uncomfortable because I’m just now realizing that wasn’t okay to do without asking first-“ He held the hand not covering his mouth up to stem the rapidly increasing flow of words coming from her.

“I… I’m not mad,” he steadily intoned, choosing his words carefully as he spoke. “And I wouldn’t have kissed you back if I didn’t like you, but I’m just a little stunned at the moment.” A deep breath in. She cringed as she waited patiently for him to speak again.

“Did you say we’re friends?”

“Oh crap, I really shouldn’t have told you that, I mean I know Hawkmoth is gone and of course you know he’s gone, he’s your dad, but-“ Ladybug slapped a hand over her mouth and her entire face scrunched together like she simply couldn’t stop the train of thought. When she pulled it away, she looked chagrined, but calmer. “Sorry. I still don’t think I should tell you who I am.” His head dropped to his chest. Of course. Of course she wouldn’t.

“I mean, Chat should be first.”

His head shot back up to lock eyes with her. “What.”

“Chat. He’s always wanted to know. And he deserves to be the first to know, now that there isn’t such a reason for secrecy. But I’d like you to be second, if you’re interested. If you don’t want to know, I understand. I helped to put your father in jail and if you don’t want to see me after that, I would completely get that.” Her hand rubbed at her upper arm and she scuffed a foot at the ground. She looked back up from staring intently at her own foot and shrugged awkwardly. The silence stretched for what felt like hours, disbelief the only emotion running through Adrien’s stunned mind.

As she grimaced and turned to go, he finally found the will to speak.

“I’d really like to know.” She turned back and swallowed heavily. “Not because I’m mad! I get why you did what you did. He was doing awful things and he needed to be stopped. I’m grateful you didn’t do anything worse than put him in jail. He deserved worse.” Ladybug’s eyes widened at the venom in the last sentence and he hastily moved on before she could really dig into the statement’s tone. “I just can’t believe I know you and I’ve never really seen you before. I feel like I should have been able to pick you out the moment I laid eyes on you. You’re like nobody else I’ve ever met.” Her eyes dropped and he knew he’d chosen the wrong words.

“That’s the thing though, isn’t it?” Her head rose and she grinned wryly. “You _have_ met me. It’s okay. I don’t act _exactly_ the same without the mask on. I get it. I don’t assume Chat is as…flamboyant as he is outside the costume either. Lord help his family and friends if he is,” she muttered, almost for her ears alone.

He swore he heard muffled laughing from the bag lying on his bed.

“But even if I can’t tell who the other part of you is, I _really like_ this you,” he rubbed the back of his neck and grinned lightly at her through the tilt of his head. One delicate eyebrow raised as she took him in.

“You just want more kisses.”

A full blown smirk broke out and he leaned forward into her space. She stood her ground after glancing around for possible escape routes. “Of course I do, don’t you? After all, you did kiss me first.”

“Cocky.”

“It’s called confidence when you can back it up.”

“Yeah, that’s why I called you cocky.”

“M- Ow. Harsh. I thought you were nice!”

A smug smirk brushed onto her face as she leaned back toward him. “I am nice, but you seem to respond to a little tough love.” They both broke out into giggles as the seriousness of the previous conversation shattered completely with their playful bantering. When his laughter subsided, he found that neither of them had backed away. Adrien watched Ladybug come down from her own giggling fit. Her chest still heaved slightly, a hand pressed lightly to her stomach to ease the strain of extended laughing. Her eyelashes fluttered like bird’s wings and her hair bounced just slightly with each movement. He found his eyes drawn back to her lips, pink and slightly bruised from their earlier kiss. As he took in the details of her face, he realized Ladybug was observing him as well.

“All you have to do is ask, you know.”

“Ask what though?” He whispered, nerves flaring. He knew what he wanted to ask, but to get it he would have to lose something too. And he wasn’t sure if he was ready to tell her he was Chat. The chance of losing her because she was interested in Adrien but not in Chat was almost too much to bear.

“Oh. Um. I thought you wanted to kiss me again, but if that’s not actually right, I’ll just. Uh. Go. And spare myself any more embarrassing things coming out of my mouth.”

He barely waited for her to finish.

“Can I kiss you?” She nodded enthusiastically and he threw all prior thoughts to the wind. His lips crashed clumsily against hers once again. As his hands found her face, and hers gripped at his hips and waist, he decided not to make any more major decisions today unless they involved those lips and this girl. He could deal with all the rest tomorrow. It would hold.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for all your support Tempomental, it means a lot to me to have you beta for me. You deserve to have the first one I post dedicated to you!


End file.
